Madagascar
The world’s fourth largest island, Madagascar boasts a unique ecosystem, with many species of plants and animals found nowhere else. Despite its great potential, in recent decades the country has experienced a stagnation in per capita income and a rise in absolute poverty. Recent political instability has undermined government institutional capacity, economic growth and development efforts. It has also reduced people's access to basic services and their ability to prevent and recover from frequent shocks.
92 percent of Madagascar's population lives on less than US$ 1,90 per day. Affecting almost half of all children under 5 - the world’s fourth highest rate - chronicmalnutrition is considered a major public health concern in Madagascar.
What the World Food Programme is doing in Madagascar
Food assistance
Based on findings from the Government-led Food Security Phase classification (IPC, June 2019), 900,000 people from 13 districts in the South and South-East are in crisis and emergency and need urgent humanitarian assistance. WFP plans to provide relief assistance to 210,000 people in 32 communes through food distributions and cash transfers, combined with activities to treat malnutrition children under 2.Nutrition
WFP provides support for the prevention of malnutrition and vitamin and mineral deficiencies among women, men, boys and girls. It also supports the Government’s efforts to increase the availability of high-quality fortified foods, in line with national commitments under the Scaling Up Nutrition initiative.School feeding
WFP provides school meals with the support of the Ministry of National Education and is helping to develop a national school feeding policy and a home-grown school feeding programme linked to smallholder farm production. This will help diversify food consumption, increase school retention rate and improve children’s ability to learn.Support to smallholder farmers and resilience building
WFP works with the Government to improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods and resilience to climate shocks by strengthening their skills and ability to access and use productive assets, climate information, financial services and markets. WFP will focus on understanding and addressing the challenges faced by women in rural communities, who are often cut out from owning land and agricultural assets, and face discriminatory customary practices.Emergency preparedness and response
WFP supports the National Disaster Management Authority and the national institute of statistics in integrating the food security, vulnerability and nutrition assessments of different agencies into a single process that operates from the village to the national level. Backed by climate early warning, seasonal forecasts and seasonal agricultural data, this approach will enable government, humanitarian and development actors to implement preparedness and early response actions as part of a comprehensive, shock and gender-responsive social protection system.
In focus
Madagascar news releases
Go to pagePartners and Donors
Achieving Zero Hunger is the work of many. Our work in Madagascar is made possible by the support and collaboration of our partners and donors, including:Find out more about the state of food security in Madagascar
Visit the food security analysis pageContacts
Antananarivo
Lot VB 71 GB Ambatoroka, BP 4199 ,101 Antananarivo, Madagascar
Phone: +261 032 07 137 01; +261 032 07 137 09; +261 033 07 001 03; +261 033 07 001 02
Fax: +261 20 22 322 99